ANC races to beat IEC deadline as Eastern Cape dispute clouds election preparations

The African National Congress (ANC) is racing to finalize its candidate lists for the upcoming local government elections on November 4 by the Electoral Commission of South Africa (IEC) deadline. The party intends to field over 10,000 candidates, comprising 4,488 ward councillor candidates and 6,000 proportional representation (PR) candidates.

ANC spokesperson Mahlengi Bhengu emphasized the widespread nature of the campaign, stating it would be "wall-to-wall" as the party aims to contest elections across all municipalities and districts in the country. The ANC is confident in its nationwide presence, which will be evident once the list process is complete and the party engages with voters.

Bhengu also highlighted that the NEC was working through the candidate lists from various provinces, including Mpumalanga, Limpopo, and KwaZulu-Natal, with the process continuing in the remaining provinces. The ANC is focusing on achieving balance within the candidate lists, particularly in terms of representation of women and young people, ensuring both substantive and descriptive representation.

Bhengu assured that the list-balancing process was taking into account community input and complaints would be resolved through the ANC's established dispute resolution mechanism. The Eastern Cape's candidate selection dispute remains unresolved, but the ANC plans to explore all avenues to ensure stability as it prepares for the election and beyond.